Terrance
Feminine
Terrance is given to boys far more often — 70,170 boys against 751 girls since 1880. See Terrance as a boy name
Terrance doubles a letter in a Roman name, and it is recorded for boys and girls alike. The playwright who carried that name wrote six comedies, and the thing everybody quotes is half a line from one of them.
How old is the name Terrance?
Terrance first appears in US birth records in 1943 — 82 years ago. The typical Terrance alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 700 people named Terrance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Terrance most popular?
Terrance peaked in 1955, reaching #2411 nationally. See the whole 1955 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Terrance
In one of the plays a character justifies interfering in a neighbor's business with a line that runs, roughly: I am a man, and nothing human is foreign to me. It has been quoted for two thousand years by people arguing for a common humanity, and it is worth knowing that in context it is a nosy old man defending gossip, and the audience is meant to laugh. That has not slowed the quoting down at all. The playwright himself came to Rome as an enslaved North African, was educated and freed by a senator, took the senator's family name, and wrote plays that Roman schoolchildren were still being drilled in four centuries later.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Roman family name behind it has no recovered sense. The best-known bearer took it from the man who freed him, which is how Roman naming worked for the formerly enslaved.
Pronouncing Terrance
TAIR-unss
Two syllables with the stress in front. The doubled r makes no audible difference.
Nicknames for Terrance
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1943
- Most girls named
- 197325 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2411reached in 1955
- Change vs 1995
- −12.5%7 in 1997, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Terrances among us
people named Terrance are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Terrance sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Terry is available as a short form and works for a child of either sex.
- The sound is thoroughly familiar, so the name is never a puzzle to say.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it leaves a question open rather than closing it.
- Terrence and Terence are both in the record, so the spelling will be checked back with you.
- The doubled letter cannot be heard, so the spelling has to be given aloud every time.
- The Roman name's own meaning is not recovered, so that question has no answer.
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Terrance
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Terrances are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Terrance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Terrance in 2025?
- Terrance is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Terrance with classmates?
- Terrance will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Terrance? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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